Wooden Crates and Bespoke Pallet Designs and Manufacture

Holmes Mann is a specialist supplier, designer and manufacturer of wooden crates and bespoke pallets. We know all about the benefits of tailor-made timber and cardboard boxes, crates and pallets when shipping cargo from your work premises, but do you?

Transporting Items

Bespoke timber pallets, wooden crates and individualised cardboard boxes can be designed to transport a huge range of products. These include engine parts and complete engines, along with other large or precious and fragile components.

Wooden Crate Design

The design of tailor-made timber pallets, cardboard boxes or bespoke wooden crates will depend on the items you want to ship, where they are going to and how they are being transported.

When it comes to wooden crate design, however, there are some common designs which can – if suitable – be used as a starting point for your individualised crate.

The most common types of wooden crates are either framed, open or closed. Closed timber crates are almost completely or totally enclosed, although gaps may be left between boards to enable expansion.

Open crates usually use lumber for sheathing and are normally classed as open rather than closed if the gaps between boards are more than the space needed for expansion. A framed crate, meanwhile, is basically a skeleton structure with no pilferage protection or surface materials.

Bigger Wooden Crates

We create bespoke wooden crates in all shapes and sizes and regularly handle orders for containers capable of holding large loads. In these cases, cleats can be added to crates to offer additional support and meet the requirements of specific transport methods. Sometimes two cleats can be placed across a crate’s upper panel, for example, to offer additional strength when straps or lifting chains are being used.

Cleats can sometimes be called different names according to the benefits they offer. ‘Joists’ are found under a wooden container’s large top to give added support, for example. Thick bottom runners, known as skids, can also be added to make it easier for lifting with forklifts.

Environmental Factors

Storage conditions and transportation methods are vital considerations when designing bespoke wooden crates Each part of a product’s transportation chain will lead to different shocks, vibrations and stresses, and the crates – or pallets or cardboard boxes – must be able to withstand every element.

They may also have to cope with differences in humidity, temperature and pressure. These elements may have an effect on the fasteners used, such as the nails and staples.